Hello to all...
Red River markets
50lb. Arctic Polar Luster Double Sided paper as suitable for creating books. The RR website characterizes the Arctic Polar Papers as having "acid free base stock" and "coating slightly acidic". The site goes on to explain as follows: "Photobase resin coated (RC) inkjet papers almost always have a slightly acidic coating. Our paper mills explain that the acidity facilitates ink setting and drying. The level of acid content is not projected to speed ink fade, especially with pigment inks." (quote from RR website)
My question is... should I be concerned about this "coating slightly acidic" statement?
With respect to book printing, the weight is 190 gsm, which is fine for book pages, and it is advertised that "Inks will not smudge, rub off, or offset from page to page - even if you're using pigment inks". Grain direction is specified. My experience with it so far is that images printed from my Epson 3880 look great and text (fontsize 9-10) is sharp (at 300 dpi). The paper folds well with correct grain orientation, although it looks like the coating cracks slightly on the outer side of the fold. The folded edges of each spread will be in the spine of the books, so it shouldn't matter.
I should add that these are not strictly "photo books"; they are traditional books with text and photos, hand sewn (in 16 page signatures) on tapes and case-bound in the traditional way... for family and friends (non-commercial). The hope is that they would last a long time and be passed on within the family for many years to come.
Any thoughts about using this paper for this purpose would be appreciated.
http://www.redrivercatalog.com/browse/50lb-arctic-polar-luster-double-sided-inkjet-photo-paper.html